Yellowknife (Oct 08/04) - A Jackfish power plant worker says a diesel spill that occurred overnight two weeks ago went undetected due to budget cuts.

Dennis Labelle, who has worked at Jackfish as a plant operator for 15 years, said the diesel spill could have destroyed the entire plant had a spark ignited the leaking fuel. That's because other than a front office worker who can't leave the room, the plant is no longer staffed at night.

"Luckily it didn't ignite, or else we would've lost the entire power plant," said Labelle.

According to NWT Power Corporation communications officer Chris Zorica, less than 3,000 litres of diesel was spilled at the plant Sept. 22, but Labelle said it was closer to 50,000 litres.

Zorica said the public wasn't informed about the spill because "it was contained within the plant site and handled with the appropriate people that we deal with."

Ed Hornby, district manager for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, said the latest number given to the department by the Power Corp was 3,017 litres, although he didn't rule out the 50,000 figure.

"If somebody is alleging 50,000, certainly our guys will ask what sort of tankage would be available to spill that amount," said Hornby, adding he didn't have any reason to think Power Corp officials were lying to them.

Work crews were observed excavating large tracts of soil with a backhoe from the power plant property Wednesday, then loading it into a dump truck.

Labelle said the spill occurred after staff had gone home for the day. He said a valve was left open after a fuel tank was removed at the plant, which leaked diesel all night long.

He said the spill would not have been as serious or even happened had a plant operator been on shift during the evening.

"Since June this year, they've gone to having no operators on after 5 p.m.," said Labelle. "Before it used to be manned 24 hours a day.

"Why would you even jeopardize the power supply to the people, the plant itself, the environment, by not having anybody there? It seems sort of short-sighted and not well thought out."

Labelle said the number of plant operators at Jackfish have been whittled away over the last four years -- through lay-offs, re-assignments, and staffers walking away -- from 10 positions in 2000 to only four today.

Their main function is to oversee the maintenance and operation of both Jackfish and the Snare hydro plant, between which they work on rotating assignments. He added that since the spill, Twilite Security has been hired to watch over the plant during the evenings. Twilite confirmed that fact yesterday.

Management abusive

Labelle portrayed management at the plant as abusive and dismissive towards staff complaints.

He said he is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- even on his days off -- and is not allowed to drink alcohol or leave the city.

"In 56 days this summer I had four days off," said Labelle. "We have rights but, they basically told us we don't have rights."

Labelle said he brought his concerns to Premier Joe Handley and Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development Minister Brendan Bell, but working conditions at the plant still haven't improved.

Plant manager Randy Patrick declined to comment. He directed inquiries back to Zorica.

Zorica couldn't be reached for comment yesterday. The day before, he told Yellowknifer he was new to the job and couldn't comment on the supervision and staffing situation at the plant.

Power Corp CEO Leon Courneya was out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Handley, who is also the minister responsible for Power Corp, said the government is under pressure from consumers to keep hydro bills down, and thus they needed to find ways to keep costs at the plant down.

"Would (the spill) not have happened had there been another person on at night? I don't know," said Handley.

"I'm not surprised some people would feel maybe if we had people there, this wouldn't have happened, but to have 24-hour coverage all the time is expensive."

Handley said he is aware of staff grievances, but since the government took over the Bluefish power plant from Con Mine, the need for Jackfish diesel power has dwindled.

"The Jackfish plant is probably used way less than it was even a year ago," said Handley.

Labelle said despite fears of retribution from management, he couldn't stay silent any longer.

"When it starts getting absurd and off-the-wall, somebody has to speak up," said Labelle.

"You can't just leave things going on like this all the time."